Bouncing Boy
History Origin Bouncing Boy 'aka Charles Foster Tain is one of the original members of the Legion of Super Heroes. Chuck was a normal man living on Earth until he drank a scientist's super-plastic fluid and gained the power to inflate his body and transform into a life-size sphere. As Bouncing Boy, he applied for membership to the Legion of Superheroes. He failed his first audition and it took him four tries before becoming the eighth member. In the end, Bouncing Boy won the Legion over with his sense of humour and showing his power could be used offensively and in a support capacity. Man of Tomorrow Bouncing Boy along with Saturn Girl and Brainiac 5 go back in time to the 21st Century to the town of Smallville, Kansas to find Superman to come back with them to the 31st Century and help them defeat the Fatal Five. Superman does not agree at first, but then his mind changes and he goes with them to the Legion Headquarters in New Metropolis. Superman agreed to help the Legion. Together with Superman they defeated the Fatal Five and Superman officially joins the Legion. Timber Wolf While trapped on the planet Rawl, Brainiac 5 and Bouncy quarrel over his piloting and engineering, but in the end, Bouncing Boy proves his abilities to his teammate. Fear Factory Bouncing Boy watched horror movies on the Legion Cruiser when they hit a Category 13 storm. They find Quavermass 12 a space station. The meet the host and the Professor Planarus and are served dinner by Boris his butler. He warned Bouncy to get out while he still can. When they go to their rooms, Bouncy is separated from the other and he lives his worst nightmares from the movies he ha watched. When he finally gives into his fear he is absorb into a nearby painting. The station is revealed to be powered by fear and he takes down the Legion one by one until Brainiac 5 is able to interface with the core destroying it and freeing Bouncing Boy and his team mates. Child's Play Bouncing Boy and the team battle Zyx a child like sorcerer from the planet Zerox. It took Phantom Girl's negotiating skills to finally defeat the magical menace. Lightning Storm Bouncing Boy is seen working with potential Legion applicants, helping them prepare for the upcoming Legion auditions. In the same episode, his quick thinking helps him in the battle against the Lightspeed Vanguard. This led into the following episode, "Substitutes", in which Bouncing Boy gave encouragement to the future Legion of Substitute Heroes, where it was revealed that he himself tried out for the Legion four times before being accepted. In the end, he ends up coining the fledgeling group's name. The Substitutes Bouncing Boy tries to help the many young heroes at Legion auditions. He helps these applicants because he himself at first was rejected from the team due to his unusual power. His words are what caused a group of rejects to form the Legion of Substitute Heroes. Chain of Command Bouncing Boy's quick thinking and observation allows him to form a plan that is crucial to the Legion's trying to save the inhabitants of the planet Winath. At the end of the episode, after Lightning Lad challenged Cosmic Boy for leadership of the Legion and prompted an election, an upset occurred - with the Legion instead electing Bouncing Boy to the position. After being elected Bouncing Boy receives a kiss from Triplicate Girl, in the end they are seen holding hands. Sundown During his tenure, Bouncy dealt with the threat of the Sun-Eater and a renegade Controller as well as the death of a member, Ferro Lad. Over the years, Bouncing Boy and Triplicate Girl formed a close relationship to each other. Man from the Edge of Tomorrow After two years had passed and Bouncy's term as leader had ended. He was among the Legionnaires who were overwhelmed by the Legion of Super-Villains and the Fatal Five who were released by the time-travelling Imperiex. Bouncy was able to survive and assist his team in freeing rescued team mates from Takron-Galtos. He comforted Triplicate Girl after she lost her third body, Bouncing Boy vowed to be her third and offer his support. He continued to serve with the team, helping them on missions against Lightning Lord ("Chain Lightning"), Terra-Man ("Unnatural Alliances"), Mordru ("Trials"), and Brainiac 1.0 ("Dark Victory"). Dark Victory Bouncing Boy along with all the members of the Legion of Superheroes gather together to battle Brainiac 5 whose programming had been corrupted by his ancestor the original Brainiac. He travelled the galaxy digitizing everything in it's path. They were all defeated but Superman and Superman X teamed up to save Brainy. Personality A constant supporter of improvisation, Bouncy also has shown that he is an effective strategist when he initiated a controlled flood to prevent mass damage on Winath. In his spare time, he enjoys watching 20th century horror movies and occasional episodes of reality television. His empathy with others led him to take on the role of teacher when he began to offer preparation courses to Legion hopefuls before the official try-outs began. He is also one of the few, if not only, members who can pilot the Legion Cruiser manually rather than standard auto-pilot. Powers Bouncing Boy gained his superpowers accidentally when drank an experimental super plastic fluid while watching a sports event. The fluid drastically altered his physiology. He now has the ability to expand his body to form that of a spherical ball of sorts. In his normal form, he is overweight to a medium degree, but when he "inflates", while his mass and height remain the same, his overall dimensions increase to resemble that of a human sized ball. Whether his body actually inflates, as in takes in air, or his individual cells expand, decreasing his overall density while increasing his overall dimensions is not known. Also, when he utilizes his power, his body's elasticity and resiliency becomes extremely rubbery allowing him to bounce with great force. Originally thought of as a useless power by his Legionnaire peers, he has adeptly demonstrated many times how he can use his body's shape and rubber-like consistency as an effective ballistic weapon. His "go-to" move is to use surrounding walls to ricochet back and forth and bowling over his opponents as he does. Normally, an inanimate rubber ball will slowly lose its kinetic force due to friction, gravity and bouncing off surrounding objects or walls, but Bouncing Boy can use his own muscles to his maintain velocity and power as he bounces about. His power also allows him a limited degree of invulnerability since bouncing off walls and nearby objects have yet to injure him as they would a normal human. Equipment * 'Legion Flight Ring: Like all Legionaries Bouncing Boy wears a flight ring. It allows him self propelled flight and protection in the vacuum of space. Appearances * Man of Tomorrow * Timber Wolf * Fear Factory * Child's Play * Lightning Storm * The Substitutes * Chain of Command * Sundown, Pt. 1 * Sundown, Pt. 2 * The Man from the Edge of Tomorrow, Pt. 1 * The Man from the Edge of Tomorrow, Pt. 2 * Chained Lightning * Karate Kid * Unnatural Alliances * In the Beginning * Trials * Dark Victory part 1 * Dark Victory part 2 External links * Bouncing Boy article at DC Comics Database, the DC Comics publication Wikia. Category:Legion of Superheroes Category:Heroes Category:Characters Category:Humans Category:Mutates Category:Male Characters